Missing???!!! Bring back our girls!

Well, I guess the post I wrote and titled 'Missing' on the 25th of April is not valid now, right? People do care. I mean look at the 'Bring back the girls' protests, photos and media coverage over the last few days, right?

Wrong. Well, for me. 

Somewhere deep in my soul, I am still not satisfied. We should demand for the girls to be brought back but you and I know that we waking up nearly three weeks later and shouting 'Bring back our girls!' is NOT going to bring them back or make them appear. Yes the media attention to this story and the global response is amazing but I cant help but feel its all just a little too late. Even if all the protests are successful and result in the girls being found, I can't imagine the trauma and horror all those girls would have experienced. Many if not all those girls are scarred for life. 

I hate to be such a pessimist but maybe this is what working in the media does to one. Even the people protesting now, do they really care or is it just a hype to them? Something to discuss, a dinner table topic? For crying out loud, these are lives! Teenagers with their whole lives ahead of them!! I know that people are making genuine efforts but do we all really care or are we just going through the hashtag?

I'm disappointed with the government- there's nothing new about this one- but even more so, I am disappointed with everyone riding on this hashtag. Why didn't we start our protests the day the girls went missing? Did we just realise that they are human beings too? Did we just realise that they are people's daughters?

The video Boko Haram released claiming responsibility for the abduction proves my point. The terrorists know that they have already done enough damage to destroy the girls forever even if they are found today. Thus, our extensive media coverage of this now, is actually benefiting them. Yes, I said it. I mean look at how confident Abubakar Shekau was in that video! It is obviously helping propagate their mission to let the world know how 'very terrible' Nigeria is.

Maybe I'm wrong but maybe, just maybe there's truth in this post. My point? We need to act faster when things like this happen. Lets not wait till it becomes a media phenomenon. 

With all my love,

Dara Rhodes. 

'Missing'

I'm sure you have heard about the 200 abducted girls from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State in Nigeria by now and I'm also sure that you have thought or are probably thinking,

"Why doesn't anyone care?"

In addition to that question, I am also asking, "How the hell did we get to this point?"

When I was in England, I always wondered how Nigerians could be so unconcerned by the Boko Haram terrorists. Now, I'm in Nigeria, its different. It is so easy for someone not in the country to sit and judge us all as inhumane but we are not.

After nine months in the country, I can quite confidently say that, one of the reasons why we don't run about fighting for justice every time Boko Haram attack is because, we are just used to it. As simple and as stupid as that may seem, it is the plain truth.

The first time I saw a newspaper with the headline "78 killed by Boko Haram in Borno" I was horrified. No, I was mortified. The next day, there was another headline about another Boko Haram attack, I was still horrified but just not as much as the previous day.

After about a month of constant headlines like that, I would pick up the newspaper, read the headline, shake my head and turn the page.

After about two months of shaking my head and fresh attack headlines everyday, I decided to start talking. Every time I saw the headlines, I would exclaim in my office and turn to show my colleagues. Most of them, would shake their heads, some would comment, others were too busy.

The day the bomb blast that killed about 80 people happened in Abuja, my office was thrown into chaos.We had to cover the story and follow it very closely. All the normal programming was cancelled. Me? Well, apart from all the Abuja research I had to do, I was confused. Why was everyone so concerned all of a sudden? Why were the same people who just shook their heads at headlines so fired up about one of the many Boko Haram attacks?

Why? Well, because, Abuja is closer to us (Southerners) than Borno, it is the capital of the state and most importantly? The World Economic Forum on Africa will be hosted there this year.

Hence, I was not surprised when apart from any updates on the bombing, and announcing that they had abducted 200 school girls from Borno immediately after the blast, it was business as usual the next day.

In local media? After about a week of looking at the abduction from different angles, it slowly died down as usual. The government even told us they girls had been found only for the principal of the school to deny that.

This morning, I turned to my colleague that sits closest to me and asked her the question I asked at the start of this post; Why doesn't anyone care about those girls that were abducted?

Her reply: "You know, I was thinking about it last night. If that happened in the South, there would have been an uproar. You see the problem is that we Southerners don't care or like the Northerners"

But,

If she (a Southerner) was thinking about it last night, that must mean she cares to some extent right?

The real problem is not about whether we care or not, the real problem is that, our government doesn't care enough. Our government isn't a Southern government, its a Nigerian government.

I am not a Southerner, I am a Nigerian.

Boko Haram want us to believe that we are Southerners and they are Northerners and sadly, I think they are winning. Their terrorism attacks are terrible and evil but even more importantly, their terrorism attacks are revealing just how un-united Nigeria really is.

Anyways, my final answer to the question I asked at the very start of this post;

Its not that Nigerians 'don't care' because they are inhumane or selfish, Nigerians don't care because we don't see ourselves as Nigerians. To me, that is worse than being inhumane and selfish.

With all my love,
Dara Rhodes.